Upstanding pouch of flexible material

ABSTRACT

A pouch of one-piece of flexible material having two side gussets of different dimensions and end seals perpendicular to said gussets, one of which end seals in closed before the filling of the pouch and the other end seal being closed thereafter providing a pouch which will stand upright without support using the larger gusset as the base therefore and a method of making such a pouch from web material.

United States Patent [151 3,659,775 Truman May 2, 1972 54] UPSTANDING POUCH OF FLEXIBLE 3,437,258 4/1969 Kugler ..229/58 MATERIAL 3,458,111 7/1969 Leasure et a1 ..229/53 X [72] Inventor: George W. Truman, Irving, Tex.

[73] Assignee: Dixico, Inc., Dallas, Tex.

[22] Filed: Apr. 17, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 29,386

[52] U.S. Cl ..229/53, 206/46 F, 229/22, 229/57, 229/58 [51] int. Cl ..B65d 33/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..206/46 R56 AA; 229/53,57, 229/58, 60, 22

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,107,989 10/1963 Fesco ..229/53 X Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair Assistant Examiner-Steven E. Lipman Attorney-Linton & Linton 57 ABSTRACT A pouch of one-piece of flexible material having two side gussets of different dimensions and end seals perpendicular to said gussets, one of which end seals in closed before the filling of the pouch and the other end seal being closed thereafter providing a pouch which will stand upright without support using the larger gusset as the base therefore and a method of making such a pouch from web material.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Patented May 2, 1972 I. 1 I nub 1| I 4 A? J J2; a

Ml/m GEORGE W. TRU

IYIRN UPSTANDING POUCH OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL The present invention is concerned with a pouch of flexible material which will stand upright when filled and a method of forming such pouch.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a container made from a single piece of flexible material and which container is capable of standing upright when filled or partially filled with various substances such, for example, as those of a liquid, semi-liquid, powdered or granular nature.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a pouch of flexible material of a tubular open end configuration having parallel, but difi'erently sized side gussets extending longitudinally of the tubes and which tube open ends can have the opposing material of each such end brought together individually and sealed together providing end seals for the pouch to retain other materials in the pouch until such time as it is desireable to at least partially open one such end seal for the discharge of said other materials from the pouch.

Another and also important object of the invention is to provide a method for forming a pouch capable of standing upright when filled or partially filled with other substances, from a longitudinally moving web of flexible material quickly and economically.

Further objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a web being folded to provide a series of the present pouches.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a pouch severed from the web of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the pouch positioned for being filled with other material.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the pouch when filled and sealed close and as in its upstanding position.

And FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, wherein like and corresponding parts are designated by the same reference characters, numeral 1 indicates a roller on which is mounted a reel 2 of a continuous web of a flexible material 3. Said material 3 is fed longitudinally from reel 2 in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 1 and during such feeding said material is folded to form a tube. That is, one marginal portion 6 of material 3 is folded inwardly and over a medial back portion of said material, while the opposite marginal portion 9 is folded in an opposite direction inwardly and over back portion 10. The edge portions 1 I and 12 of marginal portions 6 and 9, respectively, are overlapped with edge portion 12 on top and said edge portions are sealed together providing a seam for the front portion 13 of the tube.

While marginal portion 6 is thus being folded, the material 3 between and connecting said back portion 10 and marginal portion 6 is given an inverse V-shape fold having sides 4 and 5 providing a gusset between portions 6 and 10 as shown in FIG. 3. At the same time the material between and connecting said back portion 10 and marginal portion 9 is given an inverse V- shaped fold having sides 7 and 8 providing a gusset between portions 9 and 10 also as shown in FIG. 3. The width of each side 7 or 8 is greater than the width of either side 4 or 5 so that the gusset 7, 8 is wider than the gusset 4, 5.

The leading edge of the material 3 has the inner faces of the gusset walls 4 and 7 brought against the inner face of back 10, the inner faces of gusset walls 5 and 8 brought against the inner face of front 13, the inner faces of the back portion 10 and front portion 13 and the outer faces of walls 4 and 5 and 7 and 8 brought together and all sealed together at end seal 14 closing the tube. A length of said tube is severed from the web to provide the pouch of FIG. 2 having an open end 18. Thereafter the new remaining leading edge is sealed close at 14 and a further pouch section severed from the web and this is repeated to provide a plurality of such pouches. The sealed ends 14 and open ends 18 of each pouch extends perpendicular to the gussets 4, 5 and 7,8. Gusset 4,5 has an inner crease 16 at its apex while gusset 7, 8 has an inner crease 17 at its apex.

Each pouch so formed is turned from the position of FIG. 2 to the position of FIG. 4 with open end 18 at the top. In the position of FIG. 4, the pouch can be filled or partly filled with another material, whereupon the inner faces of open end 18, including the inner and outer faces of sides 4 and 5, the inner and outer faces of sides 7 and 8 and the inner faces of the back portion 10 and front portion 13 in open end 18 are pressed together and sealed together closing said end 18 and providing a second sealed end 15 completely sealing the pouch closed.

The material 3 can be of either a single or multi-wall construction and can be of a film, foil, paper, combinations of any or all of these materials or a semi-rigid thermoplastic or heat sealable material. The material to be used depends on the barrier protection required by the particular product to be packaged.

The pouches can be formed on existing conventional container forming equipment (not shown) by continuously feeding a web of material 3 around and along a mandrel of such equipment forming said web into a flattened gusseted tube and intermittently joining together the front portion 13 to the back portion 10 by heat sealing the same to provide the end seals 14 at 90 to the path of the tube. After each such sealing operation the tube is severed parallel and adjacent to, but in front of each end seal 14, thereby segmenting said tube into individual flattened gusseted pouches which are sealed at 14 on one end and unsealed at 18 at the opposite end.

The unsealed ends 18 are opened after positioning each pouch as shown in FIG. 4. Thereupon other material such as those of a liquid, semi-liquid, powdered or granular nature, for example, milk, soft drinks, beer, candies, nuts, small cookies, crackers, dry mixes, powders or granular products, are fed through open end 18 into the pouch. Thereupon open end 18 is sealed closed to form end seal 15.

After the pouch has been filled and closed, it can be placed in an upright position with gusset 7, 8 forming the base as shown in FIG. 6. The contents of the pouch exert pressure on the gusset sides 7 and 8 causing it to flatten out at its crease 17 where the gusset is now closed by ends seals 14 and 15. As the gusset 7, 8 extends, the front portion 13 and back portion 10 how outwardly to form a generally elliptical base 7, 8 upon which the pouch sits. Since the top gusset 4, 5 is narrower and more shallow than the bottom gusset 7, 8, the portions 13 and 10 cannot protrude as far out at the top 4, 5 as they can at the bottom 7, 8. This causes the package to assume a configuration resembling an inverted wedge, see FIG. 6, which makes the pouch sufficiently stable to prevent its being easily toppled from its standing position.

To dispense the contents, top gusset 4, 5 or a top portion of end seal 14 or 15 can be slit or torn open and the contents poured therefrom. The pouch will maintain its upright position even when only partially filled and placed on bottom gusset 7, 8.

By way of an example only of the pouch, material 3 could be waxed paper, polyethylene or other heat sealable material and the pouch in its flattened condition could have sealed ends 14 and 15 each 9 inches long with the gusseted ends 4, 5 and 7, 8 each 8 inches long. The walls 4 and 5 could each be threequarters of an inch wide, while walls 7 and 8 could each be ME inches wide. However the present pouches can be of many other sizes and made from many other types of materials.

A generally appropriate ratio differential of gusset 4, 5 to gusset 7, 8 is about 0.060 to l, but this varies according to product requirements, overall package dimensions and materials.

While end seals 14 and 15 are indicated as being heat sealed, it is to be appreciated that an adhesive could be used for sealing purposes between the inner marginal portions of the material at said ends in place of heat sealing depending on the material 3 employed.

I claim:

l. A pouch of flexible material having a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, a top gusset integral with, connecting and extending between said front and rear wall portions, a second gusset integral with, connecting and extending between said front and rear wall portions, spaced from and being wider than said first gusset and at least one corresponding marginal portion of said front and rear walls and corresponding end portions of said gussets being sealed together.

2. A pouch as claimed in claim 1 wherein other corresponding marginal portions of said front and rear walls and corresponding end portions of said gussets are sealed together with said sealed marginal portions being the sides of said pouch.

3. A pouch comprising a tube of material having a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, an inverse fold in said tube integral with and extending between said wall portions, a second inverse fold in said tube integral with and extending between said wall portions and spaced from said first fold, said second fold having greater lateral width than the width of said first fold and at least one end portion of said tube having portions of said folds and said front and back wall portions sealed together.

4. A pouch as claimed in claim 3 wherein said folds are parallel to one another.

5. A pouch as claimed in claim 4 wherein the other end portion of said tube has further marginal portions of said folds and said front and back wall portions sealed together and said end portions of said tube extend normal to said folds and said second fold is the bottom of said pouch.

6. A pouch as claimed in claim 4 wherein each of said folds has a V-shape and extends inwardly between said front and rear wall portions.

7. A pouch as claimed in claim 6 wherein said folds extend longitudinally of said tube each along an opposite portion of said tube.

I 1 i i 

1. A pouch of flexible material having a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, a top gusset integral with, connecting and extending between said front and rear wall portions, a second gusset integral with, connecting and extending between said front and rear wall portions, spaced from and being wider than said first gusset and at least one corresponding marginal portion of said front and rear walls and corresponding end portions of said gussets being sealed together.
 2. A pouch as claimed in claim 1 wherein other corresponding marginal portions of said front and rear walls and corresponding end portions of said gussets are sealed together with said sealed marginal portions being the sides of said pouch.
 3. A pouch comprising a tube of material having a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, an inverse fold in said tube integral with and extending between said wall portions, a second inverse fold in said tube integral with and extending between said wall portions and spaced from said first fold, said second fold having greater lateral width than the width of said first fold and at least one end portion of said tube having portions of said folds and said front and back wall portions sealed together.
 4. A pouch as claimed in claim 3 wherein said folds are parallel to one another.
 5. A pouch as claimed in claim 4 wherein the other end portion of said tube has further marginal portions of said folds and said front and back wall portions sealed together and said end portions of said tube extend normal to said folds and said second fold is the bottom of said pouch.
 6. A pouch as claimed in claim 4 wherein each of said folds has a V-shape and extends inwardly between said front and rear wall portions.
 7. A pouch as claimed in claim 6 wherein said folds extend longitudinally of said tube each along an opposite portion of said tube. 